so remitted it to the court of the County of Blois. There Hugh lost, but in the violence that followed his tenant, who held the land from him as a fief, was captured by Rotrou's men. The reigning pope, Paschal II, who was in Chartres in April, sent the case back to Ivo, who complained in a letter that since "this law of the Church protecting the goods of knights going to Jerusalem was new. . . they did not know whether the protection applied only to their properties or also applied to their fortifications." Rotrou denied that the case had anything to do with the novel canon law. Norman politics During Rotrou's absence his father, Geoffrey of Mortagne, died in 1099. On the first Sunday after returning to France, Rotrou paid a visit to the monastery of Nogent-le-Rotrou, a foundation of his family's and the location of his father tomb. There he asked to become a confrater (brother) of the Abbey of Cluny, Nogent's mother house, and to show his sincerity and prove the fulfillment of his Crusading vow he placed a charter confirming his predecessors' donations to the abbey and the palm frond brought back from Jerusalem on the altar. Rotrou's position in the Duchy of Normandy was that of defender of the frontier with the Île-de-France. His position was probably enhanced by his participation in the First Crusade. Whereas his father had only held the title of viscount, Rotrou is usually called a count. In the war between Henry I of England and Robert Curthose, Rotrou sided with the former and was an important figure in Henry's administration of the duchy after the capture of Robert at Tinchebrai in 1106. Rotrou was a direct vassal of Henry in England, where he held fiefs jure uxoris, in right of his wife, the king's daughter Matilda. He was not often in England, but is purported to have been close to his wife. Reconquista Early participation Rotrou's actual first participation in the Reconquista dates to the first decade of the twelfth century (possibly 1104–5). He and a group of Normans are said to have fought the Muslims in the service of Alfonso the Battler, then King of Aragon and Navarre, until the Aragonese plotted against them and they returned home. It has been speculated that the Norman involvement in the campaign originated as gossip designed to discredit Alfonso by Cluny,